Monday, February 28, 2005

So glad that's over. The party/viewing here was quite fun. The awards themselves, though? Ugh. It's always a little hard when the most loved movie is one you just don't really respond to. Then you're left shaking your head going "why?" Best Moment -Charlie Kauffman finally winning. Worst moment -Hilary Swank at the podium --STILL campaigning even though she'd just won. 'i'm just a poor girl from a trailer park. blah blah blah.' Still hogging the night, refusing to go as she shouts out names like she hasn't had the opportunity to thank people for months now at other awards showsHate her. I would like to say "at least she'll go away now" But who knows? I mean, she improbably came back this time. And, I remember full well that she was a media fixture then, desperately clinging to every ounce of her newfound fame after she won the first time. Showing up at EVERYTHING, hosting fashion awards on VH1, cutting ribbons at grand openings, hosting blooper shows...whatever. You invited her for spotlight time, she was there in a jiff! I swear though that if she lands another Oscarbait role in another 5 years -and campaigns as desperately as she did this year and defeats someone like Kate Winslet or Julianne Moore who still haven't won by that time, there will not be drugs powerful enough to contain my rage.

Yes, I'm bitter. But I have to release it for catharsis reasons. Must purge myself of the Swank hating.

16 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Still shaking my head over voters buying Swank as the woman who gave them the greatest lead ACTING of the year. I liked Swank in the part, I thought she was good, but for God's sake, an Oscar! Look past the role next time, people! Think about the actual performance the person is giving, without bringing in additional "pluses" such as the fact the character's circumstances made you cry, the performer really got into shape for the part, and the poor/deglam factor Nathaniel discussed in detail. I might be missing something, but based on the name of the prize, I always thought Best Actress should be awarded based on the actual performance an actress gives in a movie (ha!- like that happens every year). The Academy members are all reading this, right Nathaniel? I thought the telecast offered one of the least memorable Oscar ceremonies ever, but I enjoyed some of the wins (Freeman, both Screenplay awards, the "Aviator" wins) so it wasn't a complete disappointment, but I'm glad the show was over relatively fast. I feel bad for Bening (hopefully she'll be back- sans Swank as a rival- in a year or two) and I feel really, really bad for Scorsese. He did fine work on "Aviator" but yet again was unable to convert for the win. If he keeps working on both sides of the camera, I hope they toss him one for acting (but only if he gives the best performance, of course) if Oscar voters just can't buy him as the Best Director in any given year. Thanks for offering this post-show "venting" forum for us.

Oh chill out people, Swank won't win a third time. Not in a million years. I don't think anyone has ever won three for three and Swank won't be the first. This kind of oscarbait comeback thing generally only works once. Next time the novelty will be gone. But it looks like Scorcese, unfortunately, will never win. Tossing a SECOND directing oscar to Clint when Marty's film had the most nods was just plain insulting. They clearly hate him. Though I must say, Clint looks incredible for 74. Has he had work done? He still looks middle-aged... and good middle-aged at that.

It happened to Nicole Kidman ("The Others"), Julianne Moore ("Far From Heaven") and it just happened to Annette Bening. I feel so bad that her, Staunton, and Winslet had to take a backseat to Swank's underwhelming performance. What a shame, and what a wasted opportunity to reward a couple of the greatest living actresses.

Thank god that "The Aviator", "Eternal Sunshine...", and "Sideways" balanced out the whole thing...

After witnessing some of the awards outcomes, I am without a doubt "chilled out" to the freezing point right now, and don't really care regarding the fact Swank probably won't win three Oscars anytime soon; the fact she DOES HAVE TWO already is a "chilling" predicament.

At least it's over, so we only have about 364 days to wait before a possibly more worthy performance takes home the Best Actress gold (keep working, Annette).

I was really happy for "Sideways" and "Eternal Sunshine" too. At least both deserving films can now hold the envious title of "Oscar-winning film."

Finally, regarding Eastwood's pyhsical shape, what about Clint's mom? She looks pretty damn spry for 96- good genes, indeed, and good for her.

I'm with you all the way on The Skank, Nathaniel. Absolutely disgusting that she has twice as many Academy Awards as Al Pacino and a whole host of others, as well as just as many as Meryl Streep, especially when you think about people like Kate Winslet, Julianne Moore, etc., who have NONE! And she has TWO!

Okay.

:contains myself:

It's absolutely fucking ridiculous, though. We all knew she was going to win, but there was a split second when Sean Penn opened the envelope that I REALLY thought it might not happen.

:sigh:

It's stuff like this that's making it REAL easy for me to get over the Oscars.

What really depressed me was that everything leading up to Best Actress (and "Swanx Thanx") was going EXACTLY AS EXPECTED. Which meant that Hilary was going to win EXACTLY AS EXPECTED. The whole sense of doomed inevitability really did lend the evening a rather curious coldness for me.

But I STILL preferred it as a show to last year's. I can't say I'm a fan of the Miss World style nominees-on-the-stage stuff, and presenting them in the audience simply MUST STOP, but it did keep things ticking along at a healthy pace.

I also have to take my hat off to Chris Rock. I have never been able to stick the guy, but his opening monologue, cutting quips ("soon to be seen in the eagerly awaited Catwoman 2"), and ESPECIALLY that montage of real cinemagoers who loved White Chicks... heck, it was inspired!

Desperately saddened by Scorsese's loss. Granted, with Gangs of New York there was that air of "responsibility" about a Scorsese vote. That simply wasn't there this time since The Aviator had a very realistic shot at Best Picture. So now it's just looking like the rudest of snubs, and the guy is probably just going to have to settle for that lifetime achievement gong (probably in the very near future).

And whilst Morgan Freeman and Cate Blanchett both picked up awards for solid work - rather than the spectacular work they are capable of... well, I guess at least we can move on from the sense of "obligation" there. Which is a relief. These obligations and ripple effects can go on for decades!

All in all, not a vintage year, and by hell do we need a major and thrilling Binoche/Brody style shocker next year to wake us all up!

Argh-can't stand the Swank win-back to back wins by two of my least favorite actresses in Hollywood, beating some of my favorite actresses (Winslet, Bening, and Keaton). And where does this pretty girl gone ugly trend stop? Could Kate Bosworth, Kate Beckinsale, even Britney Spears pick up Oscars from this formula?

Also, have to agree with Rob-we desperately need a mammoth upset next year-to prove Oscar can still pull them off.

Well, I've never actually been bored at the Oscars because either they have surprises in store (I absolutely LOVED the Polanski win two years ago) or they're throwing awards at films I utterly love (ROTK, English Patient, Crouching Tiger).

In my opinion, Jorge Drexler saved the day by taking the first Oscar for a foreign song ever in that category! What a slap in the face to the jerk that wouldn't let him sing! And he's from my country too, Uruguay, so you can bet Latin America was screaming in joy as his name was announced.

Cate Blanchett winning was a big relief and thank God Madsen didn't take this. Charlie Kaufman was another standout (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is my favorite movie of the year)

Things I wanted to happen but didn't:Aviator winning Best DirectorZhao Xiaoding for Cinematography!John Debney for Score

But alas... I'm thinking Oscar, i mean, Gangs of New York got 0 Oscars, Aviator got 5... so you'd think "The Departed" will finally bring the gold to Marty, especially since it's so "Raging Bull" like.

Okay, so the Swank win annoyed the hell outta me but the thing that just annoyed me that slight bit more was, as Nat mentioned, her speech! Just... ugh! Horrible (second) worst of the night. I am fairly adament though that she will never win an Oscar ever again so that's great. It's weird though that she is considered a better actress than every actress ever for her age. Hepburn didn't win 3 until she hit 60, right? Anyway...

The worst speech of the night was, and I knew it would be all along... JAMIE FOXX. O. MY. GOD. Both he and Hilary just copied their speeches from every other award, but Foxx's was worse. Sing. Thank cast/crew. Spiel about Grandmother. Cry.

but the kicker was when Jamie looked down a bout of tears... but then (if you watch it in slow-mo if you taped it) you can see him look up for just a quick second with a slight smile on his face. As if to say "Gotcha!"

and I also like to think that Martin Scorcese losing was A DIRECT RESULT OF RAY CHARLES DYING! Okay, bare with me. If Ray hadn't of died Jamie wouldn't have won. Who would have? CLINT EASTWOOD. And while M$B probably would have won Picture still they would have an opening for Scorcese.

It really is sad that he lost again, although I did like M$B (B+) I prefered Aviator (A-).

Anyway, other things from the night.

-Charlie finally winning was awesome!!!-Cate winning!!! Being from Australia, I really wanted this to happen!-The Speech given by the Original Song winner (he sang the song better than Antonio!) -Chris Rock! I was so surprised but he was really funny. Specially "THe next four presents - Salma Heyak and Penelope Cruz" teehee and the White Chicks bit was hilarious. Albert Brooks...?-CLIPS. Thank god they kept them!-The audience award thing was as horrible misconstrude as I thought it was going to be and neither was the nominees on stage. In fact it kind of made it fun (moreso the audience one, the stage one can stay or leave).-Why was Beyonce singing every second song??? I love her but, what...?

I think it has been one of the worst Oscar night, sorry but everything was expected only one surprise the original song, the best moment in the night!

I really hate hilary wins, sorry but she is 30, and she has done few movies and only two good movies, oh good now she has the same Oscar than Meryl Streep, guauuu, sorry I would have liked Kate or Annete, they are really great actress.

I think Jiame speech was horrible, log, boring, the same wach award..

And I feel very sad for Martin!

At least The sea Inside got the oscar, I am spanish so this is really good for us!

Gawd, Glenn, that's even more horrifying than putting Swank in the came class with Vivien Leigh in the twofertwo category.

I'm so glad to see others not being taken in by Oh Hilary Worked So Hard To Get In Shape. This is supposed to be an acting award, not a playing yourself award or even a FIRM infomercial (spoken by someone who actually DOES and believes in this particular exercise plan). I pretty much ripped M$B to shreds my review[/shameless plug], but I know I'm in the minority.

And every time I see the most fabulous woman in the universe, Kate Winslet, looking luminous in the audience, sitting there for three and a half hours while someone far less deserving (see also: Helen Hunt) gets the statue, I just want to scream.

Nat, you did a GREAT piece on the "uglying down" factor that was right on the money.

Frankly, the whole thing makes me a bit ill. But then, it's Hollywood. Why take it seriously at all? [/reminder to self]

how is it that whenever kate winslet's name is read out in any awards show it elicits the loudest applause and yet she still can't manage a win? somebody tell the voters that if you love someone that much frickin' vote for them. especially her. we would.